Tamrien, The Holy Flame
by Hellmonger
Summary: My first real attempt at writing, this is the story of Tamrien, A half elven Paladin. Mistreated from birth, used as a slave and witnessing the loss of the only one he held dear, Tamrien is beacon of hope to those who are tread on by people in power. A righteous warrior, a devout defender, and a friend to those in need. (Feed back is welcome as long as it is helpful and not rude)


_Forgive the layout, I don't have Word installed on this computer, but i had a really big hankering to write, so this is what i've written in the last 2 hours, any grammatical feed back or just regular feed back would be great, I sort of plan on making more with this character, but I'm just writing down the back story thats been floating around in my head_

Tamrien, The Holy Flame.

The earliest memories I have are not happy ones. They are one of hardship, pain, and loneliness. From what I was able to gather from those around me, I was an orphan, found by King Lecto and Queen Gia, of the small kingdom of Ortaka. The Queen had a terminal disease that the king had been attempting to cure for years; he dabbled in every sort of magic he could, and at the time was attempting necromantic magic to magically lengthen her life. But soon after finding me, the queen's disease finally claimed her. Since i was recently found, Lecto blamed me for her death, and begun a downward spiral into madness, and falling deeper into necromancy. As such, I became a slave with no name. I was only ever referred to as "slave" and for most of my childhood, I never had any sort of affection or love given to me. While i was a babe, the king had nurse maids rotate out so that I never grew attached to any of them. Once I was old enough to walk, I was given a tiny room, with a tiny arrow slot as my window, a single blanket, and some ancient pillows. Thus began my life as a slave to the once decent king, now Mad king Lecto.

Things changed drastically for the kingdom over my years as a child, unbeknownst to me. A new elite guard were formed, know as the Skull Guard, for they wore skull shaped helmets and had an image of a skull adorning their armor. They never spoke, only commanders of the guard ever did, and they never questioned orders given to them. The regular guards still existed and composed most of the castle and city guard, but the Skull Guard were the secret police, taking those who disobeyed the crown. Rarely were they seen again, those taken by the Skulls, and those who were carried with them horrible malformaties and missing appendages. On top of the Skulls, Lecto imposed a "body tax", for those could not afford the exorbitant taxes. They too were forced to "give" a body part to the king as payment instead of gold. Most citizens of the city near the castle were missing limbs, eyes, ears, noses, tongues, teeth, and such, no one actually knowing where any of the parts go. At the time, I had no knowledge of any of this, seeing as i was the king's slave, and was to keep my nose out of everything.

Growing up was not an easy time for me, from ages 4-10 I was the messenger, the king's personal robe cleaner, the duster of every inch of the king's throne room, and the punching bag of most of the guardsmen and maids. I was forced to do tasks that maids didn't wish to do, clean guardsmen' gear after hours of work for the king, and was expected to run to the king anytime a little bell was rung. If I did not go to the king before he rang the bell a second time, I would get beaten and forced to clean my own blood off the floor and his clothing. Some maids used to toy with me, pretending to be kind to me, offer me food and water, only to use me as a scapegoat for their mistakes. I learned very quickly not to trust them and I learned that the word of the slave is nothing. It wasn't until I met a young maid, who never told me her name so as to protect me and herself from the kings wrath, that i learned that the whole world isn't as cruel as I had grown to believe. She started by trying to feed me, but after i had been tricked by maids in the past, I would not touch the food and recoil in fear of being hit for going near it. But she kept trying, even sneaking food to my little closet. She then began to meet me at my room during the night and read to me, then began to teach me to read and write. I was around the age of 12 when she started to teach me these things. She showed me compassion, love, and what friendship was. She was barely older than i, all of 16 at the time, her family lived in the city and her mother was a maid till she got ill and could not do it anymore. Her father runs a small shop out of their house and sells food, trinkets and such. They don't make much off the shop, but it is enough to get by. She managed to get a job in the castle to help support her family, and saw me suffering at the hands of the other maids and guardsmen of the castle. I warned her that she should just forget about me, that I was just a slave, I had no name, no family, nothing, and that continuing to speak to me could end up in her getting hurt or worse. I began to fear that the one person who was kind to me would be hurt because of me and I didn't want that to happen. But she kept snuck me food whenever she could; she taught me reading and writing every free chance she had. She even gave me a name, from a book about a brave warrior. She named me Tamrien, and I named her Angel, since that's what she had been to me. Years pass by, I learned fast and kept our meetings secret from everyone as did she.

She was a beautiful woman, not just in my eyes, but she was catching the eyes of other men, men, who were not kind or caring as she was. And one of those men, a guardsmen named Sheskal, was more than a little obsessed with her. When Sheskal began to really take notice of Angel, i was of the age of 17 and Angel was 21. She began to visit less and less, but when she did she would warn me of this guardsman and tell me of his attempts to woo her and marry her. She despised him, and had scorned all his attempts to make her his. But this only made him lust more for her. It happened on a fateful day, a day that is forever burned into my memories. Sheskal had followed Angel to my room, sneaking behind her at a distance to discover what he thought was her secret lover, only to uncover our teaching session. She at the time was teaching me of religion, specifically, the religion of Bahamit, the platinum dragon of justice. I was intrigued by the paladins and clerics of the Order of Bahamit, and she was reading to me from a book about them when Sheskal burst in with 2 other guardsmen. "So, you'd rather love this worthless slave than me?" Shekal roared as he burst through the door. Angel attempts to stand and block him from me, but he hits her once in the face with his metal gauntlet and drops her to the floor. "You stupid bitch, you could have been the wife of a guardsman, happy, and fat from my money, but you would rather have this wretched slave instead?" Sheskal shouts. He then steps over her and grabs me by my hair, "Lets see what the king thinks of his slave playing with his maids!" He says as he throws me towards the door and his two compatriates. I attempt to fight them off but they are far stronger than I and they easily manhandle me into a position that i can't escape from. Sheskal then drags Angel by her hair out of my room and the two holding me follow after him. We soon arrive in the throne room, thrust before the king and his Skull Guard. King Lecto is furious at the guardsmen for barging in but his fury is turned towards me as Sheskal tells him what he witnessed.

"Your majesty," Sheskal begins as he bows deeply to the king,"I bring before you a maid who-" "I know who she is you buffoon, just as i know my own slave, and judging by the way you threw them before me, she was helping him in some fashion i take it?" Lecto interrupts impatiently.

"Uh, Y-yes your majesty," Sheskal stumbles on his words, "From what I could tell, she was t-teaching him to read."

"She was TEACHING him?" The king quietly asks, a sort of quiet that makes the whole room feel extremely still.

"Y-y-yes, your majesty," Sheskal stutters, "I-I'm not s-sure what, sir, but she was reading to him."

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention..." the king trails off, with his hand moving in a small circle infront of him, as if he is searching for a word or name.

"Sheskal, sir, i mean your majesty," Sheskal manages to get out.

"Yes, thank you Sheskal, you and your companions may leave now." Lecto says, with a way of his hand in a dismissive manor.

Sheskal and the other two guardsmen salute and walk out of the room, leaving me and Angel alone with a terrifyingly calm King Lecto. Lecto stands up from his chair, his tall and and lithe form outlined on his dark blue and black robes. Without saying a word, Lecto motions to his Skull guards and they quickly move forward towards us, dragging myself and Angel off the floor. The king then exits through a door hidden behind a bookcase, one I had seen him enter before with other people, but never witnessed the others coming out. Lecto leads the Skulls who are dragging us down a dark and long stair case, and the farther we go, the more Lecto's demeanor changes. His face becomes a pale sunken visage, eyes a sickly greenish color, hair once a dark black now fades to a dull grey. His skin seems to want to fall right off him, his finger nails growing longer and more claw like. By the time we reach the bottom, the man we once thought was our king is gone, and instead what seemed like a walking corpse stands in front of us. Lecto turns;

"You, girl, you have disobey my rules. No one is to speak to the slave unless to give him orders, no one is to feed him, clothe him, do anything to help him. He is MY slave and you are MY servant. I dislike being disobeyed," Spoke the once handsome Lecto, now a nightmarish monster. "You both need to be punished, and I havent had any fresh blood in a long while down here," he hisses gesturing towards a heavy iron door which swings open seemingly of its own volition. With the door open, I can smell the horrible stench of dried blood, rotting flesh, and can barely hold my gagging back. With out a word the Skulls holding us force through the door, which swings shut behind the king, and I am placed in a small cage, barely big enough for me to kneel in. Angel is dragged off into the darkness trying to fight the Skulls off her, who seem to have no trouble resisting her attempts. They disappear into the darkness, but I can still hear her attmpt to get free. Suddenly her struggling stops, and a pale green light eminates from a staff the king is holding. The light reveals to me a room with horrid devices, torture devices. In the center of the room, Angel is reveiled as well, with her arms and legs individually tied to a machine with 4 arms in a spread eagle fasion. Lecto glides over to the machine.

"You see, little girl, I am in need of fresh blood, I was planning on another maids blood, but since you've disobeyed me, I will use yours instead." Lecto quietly informs her.

"Blood? W-why do you need blood? Please let me go, I was just trying to help him, he needed help!" Angel pleads, tears spilling from her eyes.

"Blood so that I may make more guardsmen, and blood to feed my powers. He is worthless, helping him was foolish, and deserves punishment!" Lecto screeches, and begins to pull a wheel near the machine. As the wheel turns, the arms which Angels limbs are tied to begin to extend outward. "You are going to die, and you are going to scream for me little girl, and your little friend is going to watch what he has caused to you." Lecto sneers, "If you had just ignored him like you were told, you wouldn't be here, but now all because of him, you are going to die."  
Angel begins to struggle against the ropes to which she is tied.  
"Don't listen to him Tam! It's not your fault, I don't blame you, don't blame yourself!" Shouts Angel. Even with her limbs being pulled apart she shows how much she loves and cares. "Please stop!" i shout from my cage, "Stop, please, don't hurt her, shes the only one to ever show me kindness! Shes my only friend!"  
Lecto, visibly furious and terrifying in the green light, begins to spin the wheel faster, causing the arms to move outward away from Angel's body. She shrieks in pain, as he limbs are being pull from their sockets and stretched beyond where they should be. All I can hear is her voice shrieking, and then she screams to me,

"Don't falter in your beliefs, you are better than him, even in the darkest of moments there is still hope, I love you Tamrien, and i will always be there with you." Angel speaks, and gives me a smile, which is then torn from her face as her limbs reach the breaking point and the skin begins to rip apart. I watch as the only person who ever showed me any kindness is ripped into pieces before my eyes, and the last thing she can think to say is that I'm a good person. The cackle that rises from Lecto is drown out by my scream of hatred towards him, and my want for revenge. Unfortunately, i cannot break the bars on the cage. Lecto glides over to me, and whispers,

"I'll play with you later, slave, for now, I want you to suffer and know what you caused. This is your fault." Lecto sneers at me as he proceeds to leave the room, and it slowly falls to darkness.

What seems like an eternity passes, before I hear any other noise besides my own tears and the dripping of Angel's blood on the cold stone floor. The noise, very faint at first, seemed like the clanking of metal on stone, and soon enough i managed to realize it was someone walking in plate armor. The door to the chamber is opened, much more slowly and it seems like it was actually pulled open, not magically opened. A torch is then lit and brought into the chamber, and I can see from the light of the torch, what seems to be a Skull Guardsman, but something is different. His armor doesn't seem to fit properly, and i can clearly see skin, unlike the other Skulls, who never show any form of skin. His helmet seems wrong, it's a metal skull cap with a black bandanna covering his face, so all i could see is his eyes. And his eyes, clearly could see me. They were the color of platinum, and seemed extremely bright. The man walked into the room, removing the lock from my cage, and helping me out.

"Come, young one, we must make haste, there is a carriage outside that will take you to the city of Erindor, far from here, to a chapel of Bahamit. There, someone is waiting to meet you." He spoke in a deep, calming voice. "Who, who are you?" I ask.

"A friend," he replies, "Take this," handing me a small pendant, which i cannot properly see, "Do not lose it, show it to the carriage driver and he will know i sent you. Now follow me quickly. We must make haste."

The man takes my hand, and leads me back up the staircase into the empty throne room, and out another door. No one met us along the way and no one crossed our path. We made it down to the allies out side the castle and the man spoke again.

"Now young one, you must go on alone from here, remember, show the carriage driver the pendant and he will take you to safety, do you understand?"

"Yes, but where-" I begin, but he cuts me off,

"Just down this alleyway, you will see him, now go, you must hurry." He gently pushes me forward down the ally, "Go!"  
Confused, scared, and upset, I make my way down the ally, and around the corner, is an old man putting a few things into his small carriage. I walk up to him,

"Ex-excuse me sir?" I quietly ask the old man.

"Oh! Young man you surprised me! Isn't it late for you to be out at this time? What are you doing out here?" The old man asks, surprised by my sudden appearance and question.

"I was told to show you this, sir," i stammer, holding out the pendant. The old man's eyes brighten with realization.

"Oh my, so my dream was true. You are here. Come boy, quickly, we must leave. Put these clothes on," His personality drastically changing from a surprised old man to a more knowing grizzled voice. "Put that pendant around your neck, and do not lose it. That pendant is very important, understood?"

"Yes, sir," I reply as I change out of my tattered clothes and into warm, slightly too large for me cloth shirt, leather pants, and leather boots. "What is your name, son?" The old man asks.

"I don-Tamrien, sir. My name is Tamrien." I respond. Deciding the name that Angel had given me was the name I would be known as.

"Tamrien, got a good ring to it. I am Brother Yacobs. Of the order of Bahamit. That pendant you showed me was a very special pendant, it is a symbol of my order, more specifically, the paladins of my order. You were given it by a man with glowing grey eyes weren't you?" Yacobs suddenly asks.

"Y-yes, how did you-?"  
"Then you're very special in deed. Hop in the back young one, get some rest, we have a long road ahead of us." Yacobs replies

"But how did you-"  
"All will be explained in time, but now you must rest, recover, when we arrive at our destination, there will be someone there who can explain it all to you. Now, sleep young one" As if he cast a spell, I begin to feel the exhaustion from my harrowing night. I climb into the back of the carriage and curl up in the blankets lying back there, and immediately fall asleep.

 _Forgive the layout, I don't have Word installed on this computer, but i had a really big hankering to write, so this is what i've written in the last 2 hours, any grammatical feed back or just regular feed back would be great, I sort of plan on making more with this character, but I'm just writing down the back story thats been floating around in my head._


End file.
